1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a support device of the type that is commonly worn by persons involved in an athletic activity, and more particularly to a wrist and hand support device to be worn on a user's wrist and hand in combination with a glove for supporting and thereby strengthening the user's arm and hand movements to thereby minimize hyperflexion and hyperextension and generally assist the user in obtaining increased proper control of a golf club when the user is in the process of attempting to swing a golf club correctly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art describes numerous types of devices that are used for the purpose of physically assisting people participating in athletic activities such as golf, tennis, bowling, etc. Many of these devices are typically worn on a portion of the user's arm and/or hand, both with and without a glove, for the primary purpose of bracing or preventing movement of a particular portion of the user's muscle or bone anatomy. For, example, (i) U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,550 describes a wrist brace for use in bowling to restrict the movement of the user's wrist joint; (ii) U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,255 describes a golf swing aid that comprises a glove which assists the golfer in hitting the golf ball squarely; and (iii) U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,906 discloses a bowler's glove and wrist support which combines certain structural features to provide a stable relationship between the forearm, wrist and hand the user. Other examples of these types of devices that are known in the art are illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,709,257, 4,040,632, 4,138,108, 274,616, 3,815,908, 3,588,917, 4,051,552, 4,197,592, 3,423,095, 3,408,077, 2,924,458, 1,226,160, 3,790,168, 3,490,768, 3,512,776, 3,261,026, 3,229,306, 3,228,035, 1,469,315, 3,700,245, 3,274,616, 1,418,637, 3,606,342, 4,070,027, 4,047,250, 4,176,840, 3,871,029, and 4,088,318. While most of the devices described in the prior art for bracing a portion of the user's arm and/or hand so as to assist the user in a particular athletic activity, generally provide some of the desirable features required for this type of device, these known devices do present many problems. For example, many of the known devices do not provide the amount or degree of support that is required for a particular athletic activity, and/or also allow too much freedom of action. These bracing devices do not provide the support with resulting strengthening of certain portions of the user's anatomy as provided by the present invention. Several of the devices actually unnecessarily restrict movement of a particular portion of the user's anatomy during an activity. Furthermore, many of the devices shown in the prior art are cumbersome, difficult to use, very complicated in their design features and expensive and difficult to manufacture.